India and US condemn use of terrorist proxies, reaffirm counter-terrorism cooperation

India and the United States pledged to further elevate cooperation on law enforcement, information sharing, exchanging the best practices on counter-terrorism challenges. The18th US-India Counter-Terrorism Joint Working Group and the fourth session of the US-India Designations Dialogue was held in Washington from 26-27 October. A joint statement was published by US State Department on Thursday stated that both countries reaffirmed counter-terrorism cooperation as an important pillar under the strategic partnership between both nations. 

Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter-Terrorism at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs led the Indian delegation at the dialogue while the American side was led by John T. Godfrey, US State Department Acting Coordinator for Counterterrorism. According to the joint statement, the US also reiterated its commitment to standing with India in the battle against terrorism. 

“Both sides strongly condemned any use of terrorist proxies and cross-border terrorism in all its forms and called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attack to be brought to justice. They also called for concerted action against all terrorist groups, including groups proscribed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) 1267 Sanctions Committee, such as al-Qa’ida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM),” the statement added.

‘Afghan territory is never again used to threaten’

Additionally, aligning with the UNSC Resolution 2593, both the United States called on the Taliban to ensure “Afghan territory is never again used to threaten or attack any country, shelter or train terrorists, or plan or finance terrorist attacks. Both sides committed to continuing close consultations on developments in Afghanistan and potential terrorist threats emanating from there. The two sides also exchanged views on countering narco-terror networks and trans-national illegal weapons smuggling networks.”

“The participants shared best practices on countering terrorism financing and use of the internet for terrorist purposes and decided to continue counter-terrorism cooperation in multilateral fora. Both sides emphasised the importance of upholding international standards on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism by all countries,” the US, India jointly said. According to the statement, they discussed the mutual legal as well as extradition assistance for bilateral enforcement training including at the Central Academy for Police Training in Hyderabad.

(IMAGE: @MahavirSinghvii_Twitter)